Machines for preparing filtered coffee, also called “American coffee”, are known.
An example of a machine of this type is disclosed in the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,637.
These known machines substantially have a main body which houses a filter for the powdered coffee, disposed in a relative filter-carrier compartment, and a tank for the water. Such known machines are also provided with at least a lid pivoted to the upper part of the main body, which lid opens by rotating upwards.
The upward opening of the lid allows access only from above, both to the filter-carrier compartment to load, clean and/or replace the filter, and also to the water tank in order to carry out direct loading or removal from above, and/or other similar operations for reloading and preparing the machine.
These known machines have the disadvantage, however, that they allow the above operations to be performed only by intervening from above; for their installation they therefore need, not only the volume of the main body, but also an additional space upwards, both to lift the lid and also for the loading maneuvers by the user; they thus limit their potential use in built-in applications, for example in furniture for domestic kitchens and suchlike.
Alternatively, the user is obliged, every time the machine is reloaded, to displace the machine in order to prevent interference with adjacent furniture or equipment.
Machines for filtered coffee are also known with a main body which has, pivoted to it, both a door opening frontally with the filter-carrier compartment integrated into it, also known as a swing-basket, and also an upper lid opening upwards, to allow water to be fed to the tank.
In these known machines, in order to allow a correct positioning/removal of the filter in/from the filter-carrier compartment, a great lateral rotation of the swing basket is necessary, more than 90°, which entails a lateral increase in the bulk of the machine in the open condition. The opening filter-carrier can also interfere with possible objects or domestic appliances normally adjacent to the machine for the filtered coffee.
Moreover, the upper lid which opens upwards has the same disadvantages already illustrated for the known machines which load the coffee and water from above.
These problems are all the more serious because in modern societies the need has arisen to make living spaces compact and optimize them in most dwellings, particularly in domestic kitchens, providing the use of domestic appliances that are built-in and/or disposed in series on the work surfaces.
However, known machines for filtered coffee, which for use require daily reloading operations and hence access to the compartments for the coffee and the water, do not allow to exploit the available space to the utmost, and can even limit the presence of other domestic appliances.
A purpose of the present invention is therefore to achieve a machine for filtered coffee which is simple and economic to produce and which does not need, in order to be reloaded and/or prepared, additional maneuvering spaces, laterally and upwards, beyond the volumetric bulk of the machine itself.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.